The Sunday Mail
Brighton Zhawi —
Zimbabwe’s national table tennis team has declined an offer to participate at the Chinese Ambassador’s Championship slated for Zambia this Saturday. Zimbabwe was one of seven nations expected to participate in the event on December 10 and 11, but the offer came late.
“We got the invite on short notice; I only found the letter in my inbox a fortnight ago,” said Zimbabwe Table Tennis Union technical director Newman Gomendo.
“We were hoping to run around and make it for the competition, but at the moment our plate is full and we will not be able send our national team.
“We aldshave the Zimbabwe Open and also an International Table Tennis Federation Level coaching course happening at Prince Edward from December 12-18,” he said.
Gomendo said the ZTTU would, however, allow some locals to play in their individual capacities.
“Brian Chamboko is one player I am certain that will be going to Zambia, and also Vikram Singh. I am sure there are other individuals who will go and play in the tournament, but there is no national team to talk about,” said Gomendo.
Commenting on the forthcoming ITTF Level One coaching course, Gomendo said, “In terms of growth, this is important because getting more coaches in the system means we will have more players from various parts of the country.
“Table tennis has nine active provinces and each province will be represented and these are selected coaches who were vetted by ZTTU.”Gomendo added: “This course will be conducted by ITTF through technical expert Ahmed Dawlatly from Egypt. This is the fourth time such a programme has been conducted in Zimbabwe so it’s good for development.”
